My Home is Your Home
by Unmasked Tomatoes
Summary: The first time they met was at the end of the third week of the beginning of their sophomore year at Trost high. He remembers it vividly; he was being ganged up on by a group of snotwipes, which was typical, but someone had stepped in that time. It was her and her brother. From that day forward they saw each other every day and spoke every day, for the rest of their lives.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Welcome to another very rare multichapter fic that features my two SnK OTPs; Markasa! And JeanMarco, but in this case it's more like a bromance they'll be sharing here.**

**This fic will start out very slow, to get a basic background, I guess you can say. I hope that there won't be too many chapters so this can be an easy read, but last time I expected 10 chapters, it was nearly 20.**

**Without further ado, here is my new fanfic.**

**(Feedback will definitely be appreciated and may motivate me to write the next chapter quicker!)**

**This is also on Ao3! : / / archiveofourown works / 1186268**

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><p>Marco barely remembered the first few weeks of highschool at Trost. He could only recall how tired he was each morning, how long it took him to get from class to class, and how hard it was to shake bullies off of him every day. All they stooped to was insults, and they never had laid a hand on him. And Marco wasn't really affected by it all. He actually pitied them, he pitied that they felt the need to put others down to feel better about themselves. And thus he just brushed them off with a smile and a witty retort that left the group of troublemakers with their mouths gaping and with their moods sour as they hated Marco more and more.<p>

Something seemed to have changed one day, however. Marco remembers the day, the Friday of the third week at highschool. Marco's assailants were trailing him and he knew it. He remembered when he should have a reply ready by, to stun them and make his getaway. But the only thing that was out of routine was that when they cornered him and spat insults at him and he just smiled- one of them, the leader, presumably, raised a fist. Marco was shocked but had just about no time to react as a hand was flying at his face. His head had roughly hit the wall behind him, but nothing made contact with his face. He peeked open an eye he didn't even realize was closed and saw that a tight set of knuckles were mere centimeters from his freckled nose. Upon further inspection, someone had grabbed the aggressor's wrist tight. The rest of the group, including Marco, turned to see a somewhat shorter boy with a flame, a spark, in his cerulean eyes. The gang didn't even bat a lid as they began to corner the boy instead, but when they heard another pair of footsteps coming up behind Marco's savior, they looked up, and hissed out a curse.

"Shit, Mikasa!"

"Run-!"

Before a woman, about the same height as the boy, made it to the big commotion that earned a lot of students' attention, the entire band of brigands had fled quickly down the hall. The leader had ripped out of the grip on his wrist, leaving the boy's hand suspended in the air. There was a moment of silence before his hand fell and he turned to Marco, looking him over.

"I'm Eren," he said suddenly, shooting out a hand for the freckled teen to take. Before doing so, he flinched.

"Marco," he responded, a smile beginning to stretch across his face. He then turned to the woman, her cold gaze making his grin falter slightly.

"Mikasa," she introduced herself, deadpan. She showed no more interest in Marco as she turned to Eren and gently pulled on his sleeve. "We're going to be late."

"Right," Eren nodded, taking one more look at Marco before he started to walk away with his sister. "See you around."

Marco waved them goodbye, and he headed for his next class as well, heart pounding in his chest.

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><p>Lunch time rolled around, and as usual, Marco found somewhere to sit that wasn't around a lot of people. He found it hard to befriend anyone. No one spoke to him and no one had the time for him, so he kept to himself. Sure he got lonely but he would take some time to stay in contact with his old friends through texts.<p>

He didn't realize which table he sat at the end of until he heard Eren's voice call him over. Marco blinked up from staring at some green beans that were making him sick to his stomach, and saw Eren, Mikasa, and a bunch of their friends. Eren was inviting him to sit with them? He wouldn't let that opportunity pass as he got up and took a seat next to a guy with two toned hair who only moved because Mikasa glared at him. He felt a little awkward, but when he looked around, most of the eyes were kind and he felt welcome.

Eren let him know that he was welcome to sit with the group during lunch whenever he wanted, he shouldn't be looking so alone and sad like that, bluh blah. Everyone introduced themselves to him, besides Eren and Mikasa, as they already did so earlier. Armin was the blonde, smart kid sitting across from him, Jean was the grumpy two toned haired guy sitting next to him, Connie was the extremely loud "baldy" (Sasha's words) sitting across from Jean, Sasha was the extremely hungry redhead sitting next to Connie, Christa was the cute blonde sitting across from Sasha, Ymir was the freckled girl sitting next to Christa, Annie was the stoic and slightly scary looking blonde sitting across from Ymir, Reiner was the huge, muscled blonde sitting next to Annie, and Bertholdt was the super tall, nervous brunette sitting across from Reiner. He had noticed a majority of these guys from classes, but he never got the chance to talk to them. Turns out they were all really cool.

As the group began to chat about things amongst themselves, a few (Christa and Armin, and rarely, Mikasa) asking Marco some questions about himself, Marco felt more happy than he had in years. The period went by faster than he would have liked, but he would see them all Monday and during classes sometimes. Besides, he had traded numbers with anyone willing so he could talk to them over the weekend. He walked to math with Jean, a smile stretched out across his face. He was so unused to it, his jaw hurt.

The two walked in mostly silence, but as they waited around for their teacher to get his ass over there and open the door, Jean spoke up.

"I know it's none of my business but..." he trailed off, hesitating. Marco looked at him curiously, gently nudging him to tell him to keep going. Jean sighed and shifted his weight, "Well... I dunno. You just looked... sad, I guess. I don't know. Ignore me. I didn't say anything,"

Marco's face softened and he looked a while at Jean, until the other teen looked over and growled out a gruff "what". Before Marco could open his mouth and answer, Jean had disappeared when a crowd of students swept them both into the classroom.

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><p>Marco sighed happily, shutting his textbook with a satisfying "thud". He had pushed doing his homework away to Saturday, and he had an interesting conversation with Connie that distracted him from doing it. It was 8 in the evening and it took him roughly 3 hours to do a 20 minute assignment. He wouldn't have gotten it finished at all if it weren't for Connie's phone dying, and Sasha wouldn't let him have the charger "because she's a butt". Thanks Sash.<p>

He stood up and stretched out. His neck popped and he just about collapsed back into the desk chair. He reminded himself not to sit in that position again, ever. His phone buzzed. and he almost considered not picking up in case it was Connie again. He grabbed it anyways and was surprised to see it was Mikasa who had sent the message.

His heart fluttered as he opened the message, but all it was, was an address and an in-character Mikasa invitation to play a match of soccer. At 8pm? Sounds fantastic. He shut off his desk light, dressed into more appropriate clothing, and told his mom he'd be back before midnight.

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><p>The highlights of the soccer match were as follows: Eren's team, consisting of himself, Mikasa, Armin, Marco, Sasha, and Bertholdt, was defeated against Jean's team, consisting of himself, Connie, Annie, Reiner, Christa, and Ymir. It was a close match, but Eren lost nonetheless.<p>

Jean celebrated with a dance and proceeded to rub it in Eren's face for the rest of the time he was there. For that reason, he and Mikasa left very quickly. Armin left almost immediately after, as well as Christa and Ymir. No one knows when Annie disappeared, but Bertholdt and Reiner stayed to humor Jean, Connie, Sasha, and Marco. It was getting late, so the remaining six left all at the same time.

Marco was sore the rest of the night and the day after, but he was happy. He was extremely happy, so happy that his mom noticed a drastic change and hugged him and thanked whatever she believed in that her son was finally the happy little boy he used to be again.


	2. Chapter 2

Monday went a lot better than his last Monday. He woke up in a good mood, groggy, but in a good mood, his breakfast was enjoyable, classes were fairly easy on him, and he got to hang with the gang at lunchtime, as well as the classes they could partner up in.

Marco's class before lunch was farther than any of the others', so he would get into the cafeteria last. He thought he would go and have to have a seat by Bertholdt, which honestly would not be that bad since he's a pretty decent guy, but he was somewhat surprised to see that the seat next to Jean was open and free for him to sit in. Marco smiled at everyone, who greeted him in their own fashion in return.

He decided that green beans were really unappetizing and he wished that the school wouldn't serve them every day. Thusly, he lost his appetite. He instead let Sasha have all of his food, ignoring Connie's warning that she would not leave him alone if he did feed her and give her an entire free meal like that.

As usual, he spent the lunch period quiet and only talking when anyone asked him a question or if there was room for him to make an input. He found himself listening to what Jean or Mikasa had to say the most, which may have been that they were the two sitting directly next to him. Then again, if he didn't enjoy their company he wouldn't bother listening to them.

He liked to hear Eren repeatedly tell him about his desire to rid the planet of all criminals and crimes, or, something along those lines. (He heard Annie mention something about a deadly note?) He loved hearing Mikasa just talk about anything in general, and though it sounded creepy, he couldn't help but love her voice. Even if she were announcing that she was going to murder him brutally he would still like it. Or even if her hair was going to strangle him he'd still love that.

Jean stayed mostly quiet unless it was to get into a fight with Eren, which Marco assisted Mikasa in breaking up. Armin stayed fairly quiet as well, probably because he was so interested in his book most the time. Connie and Sasha argued about little things, which were usually always dumb. And Connie's constant yelling attracted a lot of attention. Ymir and Christa, well, Marco wasn't sure what they talked about, but they talked, and it looked very friendly and formal. Annie and Bertholdt had some sort of world of their own. If Marco could look in the right angle around Jean without being awkward, he could see Annie texting. And if he looked hard enough, it was to Bertholdt, who was looking at his lap, slightly jittery. Reiner just said random things and threw stuff at Jean. When he got his attention he would shout "beep-beep" across the table.

That's how lunch went for that week, and the week after. The only changes were that Marco became quickly used to and comfortable with his new friends and could speak more openly around him. He was happy again, he felt the sweet emotions he had missed feeling. So many times has he tried reaching for them, but could only brush his fingertips against them and hope that eventually they would fall into his palm. With the help of Jean and Mikasa, Eren and Armin, Connie and Sasha, Christa and Ymir, and Annie, Bertholdt, and Reiner, the emotions he was so close to grasping had finally fallen to him and he hasn't ever felt so, so, alive, and he loved it.

It was also the only explanation as to why his heart pounded so frantically he could feel it when she was near, right?

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><p>It had been three weeks since meeting Mikasa and Eren, and life was good for Marco now. However, he did have a feeling that something was missing out of his life, and though he had a few suspicions he couldn't place his finger on exactly what.<p>

In the middle of the week on his way to science class, being pushed roughly from behind and hitting the carpet with a loud thud, and the textbook he was holding hitting him in the face and getting a busted lip from it, reminded him of what.

He quickly scrambled to his feet and whipped around, using his textbook as a shield to face the gang of snotwipes that had just about disappeared out of his life three weeks ago on Friday when Eren and Mikasa saved him. His eyes were wide and he almost fell over again when he noticed the very small distance between him and the leader. He was pushed again almost immediately, and the book flew out of his hand as he regained balance. Trying to remember his tactics of how to get out of this situation mostly unscathed, Marco steadied himself and let his expression of fear fade. The leader wouldn't have it though, and shoved him yet again. Marco was more stable and barely budged, his arms coming up to shove the leader right back- but decided against it at the last minute and only his fingers had brushed against his chest.

Marco instead tried to book it by speed walking backwards towards the classroom, but only ended up running into a few guys that had ran to go intercept him. They were circling him, and Marco had a feeling they wouldn't be stooping to insults anymore. He didn't want to have to fight them back. For one, if he got too violent he could do a lot more damage than necessary, and two, he had a perfect record and wasn't about to ruin it with one fight. But he was really getting tired of these guys, and at this point he was ready to stop caring about being perfect and beat the shit out of them to get them off his case.

The group had gotten into what looked like fighting stances, and Marco panicked. He didn't want to have to fight them, he honestly really didn't.

"W-wait, guys, please-" he was interrupted when a fist flew out, which he barely dodged. "Come on, there's no reason fo-"

He had to dodge another fist, but someone shoved him right into it. He got hit in the cheekbone, the blow surprisingly soft, and a knee jammed up into his stomach. The wind was knocked out of him and he hunched over, trying again to dodge anything thrown at him.

He was kicked and he fell to his knees, but only stood up again. It seemed like talking wasn't going to do anything, so he got into a defensive stance, panting as he tried to regain his breath. He managed to block yet another punch, and when he found an opening he swung. The guy he had hit square in the jaw stumbled backwards, looking quite shocked from how effective the blow was.

To Marco, everything had happened in a blur. After the first few punches he threw, all he remembered was the adrenaline pumping him. He also distinctly remembered a very familiar figure with a familiar voice jumping into the fight to assist him a bit before it was over.

When Marco came to his senses, he was sitting on the ground and someone was next to him. He took in a deep breath, bringing the heels of his hands to his eyes. It was cold, was the first thing he noticed. There was wind blowing against him... Was he outside? He moved his hands and looked around, before his eyes settled on the person next to him. It was Jean, who had been staring at him for a while. He looked exhausted.

"What..." Marco spoke, barely above a whisper. "What happened...?" He swallowed. His throat stung a little as well as his eyes, and his face and knuckles were pulsing and sore.

"You and I kicked ass," Jean replied gruffly, tiredly. He shuffled into a better position against the tree he was hiding Marco away in, and peeked around the corner. "I don't think anyone saw. We should be able to get away with it."

Marco looked down to his hands, which were bruised. He felt his mood go completely downhill. "How bad are they?"

Jean chuckled. "They won't be bothering you anymore. That's for sure." He slowly got to his feet and held out a hand for Marco. "You look like shit."

Marco took the hand and stood, wavering slightly. He frowned. He should turn himself in, is what he thought. But if he could get away with it, just that one time, he'd leave it. He wanted them off his case, right? Then, why does he feel so bad about putting them in their place?

He shook himself out of his thoughts and followed Jean to the bathrooms, swollen hands kept in his pockets. Everyone was in class and the halls were empty, which meant that they could clean themselves up and show up next period to class like nothing had happened without much hassle.

Marco winced when he saw himself in the mirror. He had bruises on his face, the most noticeable one on his cheekbone. His lip was busted and dry blood had made a short trail along his chin. He looked awful.

Jean looked worse than he did; more bruises were along his eye area and he told Marco that he's pretty sure he broke a knuckle.

They both cleaned up the blood and dirt from themselves, but the bruises had to stay. They agreed that if anyone asked, they fell down the stairs. Not that there were a lot of stairs that they could just fall down, but it was pretty believable.

They holed themselves up in the bathroom, hoping that someone wouldn't walk in and think them suspicious, and talked. They ran through a few not so important topics, but then Jean brought up Mikasa.

"She's great," Jean sighed, a dreamy look on his face. Marco laughed with a nod of his head.

"She's pretty cool."

"But she always rejects me," Jean's face fell as he said this, and he kicked at the tiled floor. "I'm in love with her, man. But all she cares about is Eren."

Marco's face fell as well, and he sighed quietly. "I've been involved in some unrequited love before, I know what it's like."

Jean's eyebrows furrowed. "Seriously? I wouldn't believe it if anyone else said it... You? Unrequited?"

Marco shrugged. "I'm not full-time perfect, you know." He rolled his eyes. "But, yeah. It sucks really hard. And when it happens more than just a few times, you start to wonder if there's something wrong with yourself..."

Marco looked down at Jean's slightly concerned expression. Jean opened his mouth, though he wasn't sure of what to say. Before he could make a sound, the bell rung. Marco smiled to Jean as if he wasn't just sad a second ago, and bid him farewell with a wave.


	3. Chapter 3

Marco was surprised to see Jean waiting outside of his classroom for him when lunch started. Marco supposed that if Jean were to go to the table first, he would probably be bombarded with questions he didn't want to answer, and have to wait a while for Marco to show up to explain everything. That, or they attained ultimate friendship status and now they wait outside of classrooms for each other. Either way, Marco was happy to see him standing there, leaning against the wall.

The two walked in comfortable silence while ignoring a few looks they got. Even though they both were covered in bruises and skipped their last period, the teachers nor most of their classmates questioned them.

They got their lunch together in silence and they strode all the way to their table in silence. That is, until Sasha yanked the tray out of both of their hands, slid them over to Connie, and stood with her hands on her hips.

Jean and Marco froze on the spot, bodies tense. They glanced around to the others' faces, asking for help with their expressions. Everyone else's replied with a simple no. A moment of silence passed and Marco cleared his throat.

"We fell down the stairs?"

Sasha cut him off before he was done. "Nuh uh." She took them by the shoulders and sat them down in the two empty seats that they were assigned to. (Assigned seats at a lunch table, psch.)

Everyone was looking at them. Jean wasn't talking, Marco could tell that with a glance to his friend, now curled up and unresponsive. Thanks for putting him on the spot Jean.

"We uh, got into a fight." He spoke quietly, nodding. "It was with those..." he waved his hand, trying to think of how to call them. "...douches who kept trailing me the first few weeks here."

The air still wasn't cleared up, and he had a feeling that it was mostly because of Mikasa. His back was turned to her somewhat, so her expression was unknown to him, but the way she was so tense beside him signaled that it was bitter.

"The ones we took care of for you a while back?" Eren asked.

Marco nodded. "I didn't want to fight them, but I wasn't gonna stand there and get my ass handed to me." A shrug. "Jean helped out a lot, too. Who knows what might've happened if he didn't jump in." He laid a hand on Jean's back with a smile, who gave a half grin. He was visibly exhausted.

"I wouldn't strike you as the fighting type," Armin commented, his head tilted in slight interest.

"I'm not, really. Not if it isn't necessary, at least. It feels nice to have them off my back for a while now though."

"You should be careful," he heard Mikasa say beside him. He actually wasn't sure if it was her in the first place, since she spoke so quietly, so differently. Marco turned towards her in curiosity. The girl looked at him before taking a napkin from under Eren's tray, and wet it with her tongue before dabbing it along his lip. He allowed her to clean up the blood slowly running along his busted lip. He didn't even realize it was there. Probably from moving his mouth so much.

Everyone was looking at him again, Jean included this time. He and Eren were both staring so hard that Marco almost expected to smell smoke and see a hole in either Mikasa's hand or somewhere on his head.

Her hand lingered. She pretended to be watching for any more blood that wanted to try and make its escape, but Marco caught her eyes flickering to other parts of his face, as subtle she could possibly make it. He smiled, she blushed slightly, and she wiped up some more crimson fluid. Someone coughed at the end of the table which caused Mikasa to hastily get up and put the napkin in the trash bin on the other side of the room.

Now the air was more awkward than it was tense, and Jean was giving him a dirty look. Eren just looked sort of suspicious, but somewhat dangerous. He would probably be described as a mother protecting her children, but that just sounded weird. Marco begrudgingly turned back to meet everyone's faces again. He took his tray from Connie with a sheepish smile and ate his food for the rest of the period in an awkward silence.

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><p>Marco hoped that his mom wasn't in the kitchen when he made it home. He wanted to go immediately into the bathroom and try to figure out how to conceal his bruises. He was shit with makeup, but maybe he could make something work...<p>

He opened the door slowly, peeking through to see if his mom was in sight. She wasn't, so he let the door close behind him. She was probably asleep from being sick as of late. The house was eerily quiet as he went up the stairs, careful of any creaky steps. Even though there were none no matter where or how he stepped on them, he always expected one to creak.

He threw his backpack on the floor to his room and padded into the bathroom. He shut the door and rummaged through his mom's makeup bag (not questioning why it was even up there in the first place). He was thankful no one was watching, because then he felt pretty embarrassed.

He had no idea what he was doing. Surely his mom would notice that there was makeup on his face when he came down for dinner (if she made it)? It was worth a try, at least.

He picked a brush and some sort of skin colored powder thing. He took a deep breath, and applied the powder all over the bruises on his face.

He did pretty well for his first time makeup application. The only thing that would probably give it away was that the bruises very slightly peeked out from under the powder, since if he had put anymore on it would look unnatural. Plus, his freckles weren't as prominent where the makeup was, as opposed to the rest of his face. He just hoped that his mom wouldn't notice. If she decided to come out of her room in the first place, that is.

He went back into his room to finish up some homework, receiving every so often a text from Connie, usually about the fight.

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><p>It was the weekend, and Marco's bruises were now a sickly, faded yellow. The makeup seemed to work, paired up with his mom's horrible vision. According to Jean, however, his parents noticed that their kid was bruised before he even made it to the door. Jean used the falling down the stairs excuse, and they almost didn't believe him, but brushed it off and told him to be more careful. Marco frowned at that.<p>

He received another invitation from Mikasa about another soccer match. He'd been getting them every Saturday since the first match, and when he asked Eren what it was all about, he shrugged.

"It's a thing Mikasa and I came up with one day when we were younger, and it stuck, I guess."

The teams changed every match. Sometimes there were people that were invited that Marco didn't even recognize. Eren said that they were from a different school, a "friend school" of Trost.

One of the other teenagers that came to play was named Levi. He was a bit older than the others, and seriously skilled. Whoever had Levi on their team had an almost definite chance of winning. Marco liked him a lot, even despite how harsh he was and how he never really seemed to notice that Marco existed.

Another was named Erwin. At first glance, Marco thought that they had invited an adult to compete. He was surprised when Eren said he was about as old as Levi. He was extremely skilled as well, and Marco secretly wonders if he uses steroids. He often refers to him as 'eyebrows' in his mind.

Petra looked more like a teenager than the other two, and she reminded him somewhat of Christa. She was pleasant to be around, and even if her team lost she would be optimistic and cheer them up. Also, she made a huge effort to keep Eren from cheating more than anyone else, even if he was on a team with her.

The last of the people to come by from the other school was Hanji. Hanji was... well, interesting. And interested, apparently. In everything. Hanji struck Marco as the 'insane scientist' type, and that's all that he would really say about them.

Marco stared a bit at the text he got and smiled. He only hoped that he wouldn't get hit in the face during the match at all.

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><p><strong>AN: I just want to apologize for short chapters. They're easier to write, and shorter chapters means a longer fic, right...?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Goddamnit Marco.**

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><p>Out of Eren's team and Levi's team, guess who won?<p>

If you said Levi, you guessed right.

In Marco's opinion, putting Levi as the captain of a team was probably the most unfair thing to happen ever. If he wasn't on Eren's team, then, well, he probably would feel a lot differently about it. Levi's expression remained pissed-off as usual as Eren threw a small fit. Petra said some encouraging words to make him feel better, and soon after, the foreign school's four students left to go do some other things.

Everyone hung out at the field for a while. It was slightly after noon, and that left a lot of opportunities for things to talk about, for places to go. Annie had to be somewhere and left subtly, and Armin had to get back home to help his grandfather. They all decided to go to the kids' park not too far from the field, since the park didn't give anyone a creepy feeling like they were being watched and there were toys that they could play with and most likely break and/or damage.

Bertholdt had snuck off sometime during the walk there. It was left to Eren and Jean to do something extremely competitive on the monkey bars or the rock climb thing, while Marco and Mikasa stood from afar to watch them and break up a fight if need be. Christa, Ymir, and Reiner sat down at a table and talked, but sometimes Reiner would go and try to wrestle Sasha or Connie off of a toy (depending on who was 'winning') from time to time, and almost crush them under his weight. But they didn't really mind because it was funny as hell, evident from how they all giggled like little kids.

Marco sat down on the grass as he watched Jean and Eren climb about on the toys that they were almost taller than. They looked absolutely ridiculous while playing with children's toys, but at least they were having fun while doing so. Mikasa took a seat next to him. They both watched their friends interact around the park in a comfortable silence. It wasn't the best of days; it was rather chilly and it looked like it might rain, but that meant the entire park was theirs.

Marco had looked over right as Mikasa shivered, and he smiled a little. "It's cold out," he commented, noting that Mikasa was wearing her trademark scarf and a short sleeved shirt, which probably wasn't the ideal article of clothing for keeping warm. The girl nodded, huddling into herself for warmth. Her face buried deeper and deeper into her scarf until it was just her eyes showing, and Marco chuckled at the sight.

"Here, you can wear my jacket."

"I'm okay."

It was too late though, and Marco was already handing her one of his favorite jackets. It was his second warmest one, so if she did accept it she would warm up immediately.

Mikasa looked around before she extended an arm to take it. She didn't put her arms in the sleeves, rather, she draped it across her shoulders. She pulled it tight around herself, and visibly relaxed. Marco smiled softly at her, and went on to see Eren shove Jean down a slide roughly. His head hit the bar at the start and when he came down off of the slide, he was on the ground holding his head in agony while Eren laughed his ass off.

Mikasa shook her head and shifted her position, so Marco could feel her body just inches away. He tried to ignore it though, just like he tried to ignore the way he felt every time he was around her. He thought she was a really, really great person, and she was absolutely gorgeous. He had agreed with Jean when he spoke so fondly of her, and even the thought of her made him instantly happy.

He groaned out loud, not realizing he did so until the girl he just realized he had feelings for gave him a look of confusion.

Of course a lot of people had some sort of crush on Mikasa, whether it was within their grade, above their grade, or even below their grade. According to Jean, she has been asked out more than just a few times, but she said no to every one of them. All but one. Jean said he didn't know anything about that relationship, but after that particular one Mikasa never accepted anyone else and was closer to Eren than ever. Marco had been trying to connect the dots and tried to form some kind of scenario that could possibly fit what had happened, but he wouldn't ever know the truth unless Mikasa told him herself.

He suddenly felt shaky. Now he just couldn't get her off of his mind, and she was barely a finger's width away from him. And worried. She was worried about him, she was leaning forward to look into his eyes, gently pulling his wrists away so she could have a clear view of his face.

He had to tell her now. Just to get it off of his mind. He had to clear it up now. If she felt the same way then she'd tell him, and even if she didn't feel the same she'd tell him and everything would be cleared up and he would feel okay.

He allowed her to take his hands from his face, and her expression made his heart beat all over again. She was genuinely concerned, just as she had been when she was cleaning the blood off his lip a few days previous. She was so close he could smell the subtle smell he could only describe as 'Mikasa'. She looked absolutely breathtaking from this view, and as proof Marco had held his breath.

He opened his mouth to speak once her hands brought his own down into his lap. He was gonna do it. He had to.

...

Barely a syllable came from his throat before he stood up and ran all the way out of the park, his mission failed and his confession unsaid.

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><p>Marco didn't even know where he was running to. His thoughts were overriding his vision. He was calling himself a coward repeatedly, he was beating himself up mentally and he stopped himself half way into a punch aimed right at his own face.<p>

He had eventually run out of breath and stopped in an empty street. As he stared at an unfamiliar building next to an unfamiliar sidewalk, he was suddenly struck with panic. He had no idea where he was, and he was cold. He didn't know what time it was, how long he was running for or how far away his house was. There was no one around, despite being a street lined with shops. It was like a ghost street.

Marco wanted to break down not only for wimping out on something so small that he could have handled quite easily, but also because he was lost and scared and cold and starving and he just wanted to be home. He took a few minutes to calm down, steady his breathing, and collect his thoughts.

Why did he run? He could have just assured her he was fine, he could have done anything but be overdramatic and run. God, he was stupid. He bonked his fist against the side of his head, rather hard.

"Okay," he muttered to himself and felt around his pockets for his phone. Thank the goodness that it was there or else he'd seriously be in trouble. But who to call? He didn't quite know where he was, and his mom didn't have a car to go look around for him. He could try to call one of his friends, but what good what it do? They had no idea where he went. Unless one of them decided to follow him.

He slowly put his phone away and sighed. His only option now was to try and remember what path he had taken. Curling into himself for warmth, he began to idly wander the streets and try to find his way back to the park, or better yet, home.

* * *

><p>He wasn't getting anywhere, and it was getting late. He was so close to breaking down. He almost considered finding an alley to hide himself in, and stay there for the night. Maybe he'd die.<p>

He shuddered at the thought, and immediately shoved it aside. Don't remember what you used to tell yourself all those sleepless nights, his mind hissed at him.

He should have called someone. He wanted to call someone more than ever. If he was going to die from the cold, he'd rather do it while talking to someone than not. So he pulled out his phone and picked a number, which happened to be Jean's. Well, it was no coincidence, because Marco had picked it on purpose. He wanted to talk to his best friend so desperately at that moment.

He held it to his ear and let it ring. He was sort of surprised when the other picked up, since it had rung for quite a while.

"Hey Marco, you alright?"

Marco's chuckle was almost unheard by Jean. "Not really, no."

It was dead silent on the other line.

"Marco, what happened? Where are you?" The urgency in Jean's voice made him choke up a little.

"I, uh... I don't know where I am. I'm... it looks like a ghost town. I've been walking for hours..." he groaned quietly when his stomach growled angrily.

"Shit," Jean hissed. "Alright, just... hang on. I think I can get someone to find you. I think." He had whispered the last part, and Marco closed his eyes as he sunk down against a building. There was some rustling on the other line, then silence, and the sound that signals that he hung up on him. He sighed and dropped the hand holding his phone. He had felt hope swell up inside him when Jean said he'd try to help, but it was gone once the line went dead. He curled into himself as far as possible to try and warm himself up, and he found himself drifting off to sleep despite fighting off his transformation to a block of ice.


	5. Author's Note

**Sorry to say, I don't think I'll be uploading any more chapters here until I can get FF to cooperate with the way I upload. In the meantime, you can read it on Ao3. The link for it is in the first chapter.**

**Until FF gets it's shit together!**

**-Tomato**


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